Devices operating within a wireless data communications network expend significant power to receive instructions and data and perform associated signal processing. As wireless data communications networks increase data rates, the power consumption of devices is also increasing. For mobile devices, which are typically powered by a limited power source in the form of batteries, a design goal is to achieve battery power conservation without adversely affecting active operation requirements.
One way for devices to conserve power (and reduce signaling overhead) in current 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE)-Advanced systems is to implement discontinuous reception (DRX) operation. DRX operation involves reducing the transceiver duty cycle of the device. An enhanced node B (eNodeB) within a 3GPP-LTE system instructs one or more devices within its serving area to initiate DRX operation based on meeting a pre-determined inactivity timer value specified by the eNodeB. The eNodeB also instructs the device(s) as to a particular DRX duty cycle (e.g., when a device should be “on” to receive scheduling and paging information and/or data, and when the device should be “off” to conserve power usage). Only the eNodeB can initiate DRX operation. Current 3GPP LTE-Advanced systems do not support initiation of DRX operation by user equipment (UE) devices.